California Today: The Primary Is Coming. Here’s a Look at the Key Races.

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Senator Dianne Feinstein, center, and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a candidate for governor, center right, at a Memorial Day commemoration at San Francisco National Cemetery on Monday.CreditJeff Chiu/Associated Press

For most people, the biggest day on the political calendar is the first Tuesday in November — Election Day. But in California, a more critical date may be next Tuesday, June 5. It’s a primary that could end up saying more about who leads this state — and more critically, from a national perspective, the composition of its congressional delegation — than what happens in November.

There is a flood of big races to watch over the next eight days. The New York Times has dispatched reporters across the state, and we have created a guide with detailed information on the contests. And for the next week, every morning’s edition of California Today will focus on the campaign unfolding across the state.

June 5 is a big day because of California’s open nonpartisan primary: The two top finishers next week will face each other in November. With so many candidates dividing the votes, voters in November may end up having a choice between two like-minded candidates from the same party.

Here’s what we’ll be watching:

Congress: Democrats are targeting seven congressional seats held by Republicans where Hillary Clinton defeated President Trump in 2016. These are central to the party’s hopes for taking back the House. But the top-two system means as many as three of those seats might slip away because there are so many Democrats on the ballot.

Governor: Jerry Brown, the Democratic incumbent, is retiring because of term limits. There is a good chance Republicans will get shut out in November, resulting in a contest, most likely, between Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor, and Antonio Villaraigosa, both Democrats.

Trump: The president is a factor in the governor’s race. President Trump endorsed John Cox, a San Diego business executive, as the Republican candidate. That will be good for the Republicans — it should help increase Republican turnout, important in the House races. A Trump endorsement may help Mr. Cox in a multicandidate primary, but it’s likely to be an albatross in November.

Senate: Senator Dianne Feinstein is seeking a sixth term. Her opponent will most likely be Kevin de León, the former Democratic leader of the State Senate. But if a Republican slips in against the popular senator, this contest is another that will probably have been resolved five months before Election Day.

California Online

(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.)

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Mayor Eric Garcetti speaking during an observance at the Los Angeles National Cemetery on Monday.CreditRichard Vogel/Associated Press

• Californians paid their respects on Memorial Day. Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles spoke at the city’s National Cemetery as hundreds of motorcyclists roared through the streets of Riverside County. In San Francisco, residents marked the day with a cemetery walk and picnic at the Presidio. [A.P.]

• In parts of the San Joaquin Valley, conservative values are often taken for granted and the tide of liberal “resistance” runs dry. Consider Representative Devin Nunes, in the 22nd Congressional District, whose family farming background outpaces any anti-Trump sentiment. [The New York Times]

•Mare Island Naval Cemetery, the oldest military cemetery on the West Coast, is in bad shape. But there’s hope for the 160-year-old site: Proposed legislation would transfer control from volunteers and the city of Vallejo to the Department of Veterans Affairs. [Bay Area News Group]

• The evangelical fight for California. As the June 5 primary approaches, Franklin Graham is bringing Jesus — and a conservative political message — to a vast pool of religious voters. [The New York Times]

• “We have heard the message that something is broken and that urgent and profound actions are needed.” That was a U.S.C. board of trustees member after the school’s president agreed to step down on Friday over a scandal involving a gynecologist accused of abusing students at the campus health center. [The New York Times]

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There has been confusion over how and why the government lost track of more than 1,000 immigrant children.CreditJohn Moore/Getty Images

• A lot has been said about how the government lost track of nearly 1,500 immigrant children, mostly from Central America. Here’s what happened. [The New York Times]

• President Trump reiterated his support for John Cox for governor, tweeting that Mr. Cox will “Make California Great Again!” [Los Angeles Times]

• Sacramento is the first city to start testing California’s new digital license plates — a display board that allows changeable messages. Questions abound over privacy, safety and price. [The Sacramento Bee]

• Ivanka Trump will appear with Kevin McCarthy, the House majority leader, in Fresno and Los Angeles next month to raise funds for Protect the House, the committee Mr. McCarthy started with Vice President Mike Pence. [Politico]

• For decades, Jimmy A. Williams cultivated the best horses and Olympic champion riders at the Flintridge Riding Club, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains. Now the sport is finally reckoning with his past. [The New York Times]

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Burrowing owls live in a park near Google’s headquarters, where employees feed feral cats that are thought to prey on the birds.CreditJason Henry for The New York Times

• In a Silicon Valley park, burrowing owls are dying and disappearing. Public records and a bit of snooping uncovered a path that led to Google and its feline-loving employees. [The New York Times]

• The Western White House, an oceanfront estate in San Clemente that was known as such when it was owned by Richard Nixon during his presidency, is for sale at $63.5 million — down from $75 million three years ago. [Los Angeles Times]

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James Harden led Houston with 32 points, but without Chris Paul to share the ball-handling and the pressure of the big moments, he was unable to stand up to Golden State in the second half.CreditBob Levey/Getty Images

• Steph Curry vs. LeBron James, Round 4: The Golden State Warriors advanced to the N.B.A. finals — and another showdown with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Mr. Curry said: “The chemistry we have got us through the rough patch.” [The New York Times]

• World War II mystery solved: The discovery of a bomber shot down 74 years ago has helped a California family find closure, and shows how new technologies are locating those who were long lost. [The New York Times]

• Snoop Dogg helped set the Guinness World Record for “the largest paradise cocktail” at the BottleRock Napa Valley Festival. His team made a gin-and-juice cocktail with 180 bottles of Hendricks gin in a five-foot-tall glass. [Forbes]

And Finally ...

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Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1963 on his way to striking out 14 Houston batters.CreditAssociated Press

It’s hard to imagine baseball in California without the Dodgers and the Giants — or the deeply bitter, decades-long rivalry that exists between them.

West Coast baseball fans weren’t always so lucky. On this day in 1957, the teams received permission to leave the East Coast — the Dodgers from Brooklyn and the Giants from Manhattan — over “declining attendance, which is a result of obsolete facilities and metropolitan New York’s saturation with televised baseball.” Here is the original Times story.

But what about the state’s other professional baseball teams? The Los Angeles Angels were added as an expansion team in 1961 by Gene Autry, the singing cowboy, who was the team’s first owner. (The team got its name from a team that had been playing in the area since 1892.)

The Padres, who joined in 1969, also as an expansion team, started as a Pacific Coast League team in San Diego in 1936. (In 1937, they were led by the San Diego native Ted Williams, a future Hall of Famer, who was 18 at the time.)

And the Oakland Athletics started as the Philadelphia Athletics in 1901, one of the original eight teams of the American League. They became the Kansas City Athletics in 1955, and moved to Oakland in 1968.

California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.